Love Matters

Series one, episodes three and four
It’s a pleasure to see talented writers and performers given their head in this Sky short film strand. The format offers freedom but demands concision and invention too – tonight’s offerings from Isy Suttie and Sarah Solemani exploit the opportunity gleefully.

First up is Suttie, starring as dopey, charming dreamer Bella – working in the café of a tiny train station, challenging the romantic pragmatism of her boss, friend and rival Jenny (Rebekah Staton) and occasionally, bursting into song. As a cheerful musing on small towns and crap jobs, it packs plenty into its 25 minutes.

Then at 9.30pm there’s Sarah Solemani’s ‘Aphrodite Fry’. Stung by the poor sexual etiquette of a one-night stand, Aphrodite sets out to prove that women can ‘cum and go’ too. For this purpose, she selects an apparently charmless partner (Alex Price’s Bobby, a man whose dreams are to ‘make lots of money and meet Mike Tindall’). But inevitably, she discovers frailty and humanity within this unpromising raw material. Both films are slight and not without their flaws and self-indulgences, but they overflow with charm too.